Wednesday, 20 February 2013

95 children & young people entered the 'My Kind of Place' competiton sharing their aspirations for our community.The winning design is being produced and will be unveiled on the 1st of March at 4pm in Beech Road Park at the Unity Arts & Friends of the Park Art Exhibition Space near the Wilton Rd gate. Unity Arts want to thank all the young creative participants, local schools, Friends of the Park, the library staff who hosted a week long exhibition of designs from all the participants.The winners of the My Kind of Place competition:

1st Prize goes to the group entry from Barlow Hall Primary school.2nd Prize goes to the group entry from the Mini Masters Art club at St. John's Catholic Primary3rd Prize goes to Attiyah Shahid of Chorlton Park Primary School.

I have been informed that United Utilities need to undertake underground pipe works on the grass plot on Buckingham Road in Chorlton.

The work will require the removal of one tree to allow excavation works. The tree a mature Sycamore is in fair condition but has decay at the union of its branches which make it susceptible to structural failure and as such the Council's Arbor Team Leader felt he could not object to its removal.

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Tree as it appears on Google Maps.
Copyright belongs to Google.

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It is also intended to remove some rose bushes from the site for the same excavations and prune other trees which infringe over the footpath. It is intended that the tree and roses will be replaced next Winter , some bulbs will be planted at the same time to improve the look of the plot.

The grass plot is the responsibility of United Utilities and they will be undertaking the required works.
Please let me know if you require any further information or wish to make any comments.

Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make.

You may have seen an article in yesterday's Manchester Evening News about how a grant from the Coalition Government is making it possible to roll out charging posts for electrical vehicles across Greater Manchester. I received the following notification about plans to place a charging point on Oswald Road*:

"The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has provided a grant to deliver 160 Electric Vehicle Charging Posts across the Greater Manchester Region. There will also be a contribution from the Integrated Block and from Electricity North West (ENW). This total funding will be used to implement and maintain the Charging Posts for a minimum of 4 years. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is managing the fund and they are targeting locations across all ten Greater Manchester Districts. Locations are proposed within Manchester as detailed in this report.

The proposed scheme will work as follows;TfGM, supported by a supplier, will install, operate, maintain and retain responsibility for the Electric Vehicle Charging Posts.TfGM, via the OLEV grant, will meet the construction costs.The ‘back office’ (administration and charging for electricity) will by provided by TfGM as a managed service.TfGM have drafted a Host Agreement for Local Authorities to sign in order to ‘Host’ the Electric Vehicle Charging Post.

Each charging post will allow two vehicles to be charged concurrently. Therefore, each charging post will require two dedicated bays for the use of Electric Vehicles.

In order for locations to be considered as suitable for Electric Vehicle Charging Posts, they must conform to the criteria of the OLEV grant and local infrastructure. The OLEV grant stipulates that, for off-street locations the land must be Local Authority owned. All sites must also be close (within 5 metres) to a mains electricity supply and be able to receive a reasonable GSM signal (in order for the post to communicate with the ‘back office’). Furthermore, sites should be located in safe locations and close to amenities where they are likely to be used and create a successful trial scheme.Given the extremely tight timescales to deliver this project, some of the proposed locations have been already confirmed as feasible but some are still subject to approvals by others (TfGM, Electricty North West). As such, any sites that are not approved will unfortunately not be delivered.Within the Chorlton ward, the following location is proposed and is being advertised on street until 13th March.Oswald Street [sic]"

*I am presuming that this refers to Oswald Road not Oswald Street and have asked an Officer to confirm this.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

I recently attended a meeting with Chorlton's Police Inspector. Sadly there has been a significant rise in the number of cases of 'Burglary Non Dwelling'. There have been 56 of these crimes in the present period compared to 8 in the same period last year.

Inspector Kinrade said that in most cases it meant burglars had been targeting sheds to steal bikes. This is in line with a massive increase in bike thefts across Greater Manchester.

To tackle this issue the Police have been taking preventative measures such as high profile patrols and monitoring places the stolen bikes are usually sold. The Inspector confirmed that there have been a number of arrests.

The Police are advising residents to get bikes marked up with UV pens and serial numbers and also to make a note of anything which is unique and distinctive about your bike (e.g. a scratch or dent). Residents are also advised to keep there bikes in as secure location as possible, preferably inside. The Police are going to organise another Bike Marking event in the near future. I will post details when I get them.

If you have had your bike stolen please make sure you report it to the police. You can also contact the Property Store at West Didsbury Police Station to see if it has been recovered or handed in.